A lot of stressful stuff is happening in my life away from blogging. All of it is stressful, heavy, and hard. Circumstances are forcing me to change the way I do stuff. Stress management is incredibly important for thriving with my condition, so I am trying new ways to manage stress (in addition to the ones I have already talked about in previous posts) and the anxiety that comes from stress. I thought I would share these with all of you because you or someone you know may benefit. They are as follows in no particular order:
- meditation: I have a subscription to headspace. You can visit: http://www.headspace.com to check it out. Full disclosure mediation is NOT easy for me. My mind is constantly going, so it is a challenge to still my mind, but I will keep trying and get better at it.
- Deep conscious breathing
- Visualization: When I am stressed I imagine all the people I love around me on either Granny’s farm or at the beach. That helps me center and calm down a lot
- A nice, hot, shower or simply washing my face helps me center as well because I am taking time for me
- Making a weekly to-do list really helps because I can focus on tasks better marking things off as they are taken care of
- Using the calendar on my phone because it is always never further away than my pocket and it can be updated, easily. For me: knowing what a day or week looks like helps me feel less stressed. I can manage my time better this way.
- Scheduling fun: This is not a new practice for me, but I am making a conscious effort to do so…again. Yes, I have to schedule fun. If I do not: I work too hard and burn myself out. My fun last week was something I have had scheduled since July: Adam Pascal’s concert which was last Tuesday. The ticket was extremely affordable because it was for access to the livestream and the video on demand replay for a week. It was also safe given the Delta Variant surge of COVID-19 cases all across the US and world. I watched the concert on my laptop from my apartment.
I hope these additional suggestions for stress management help you or someone you love. They are a form of self care and can aid your overall health and wellness, too.